


Maid in Heaven

by CountMechasonger



Category: Touhou Project, ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 | JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken | JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
Genre: Gen, JJBA/Touhou Merged Canon, Spoilers for part 6, adventures in misogyny
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-04
Updated: 2016-05-02
Packaged: 2018-05-18 06:31:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5901889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CountMechasonger/pseuds/CountMechasonger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sakuya Izayoi feels the pull of "gravity", pulling her towards the Outside World. What awaits her there? (Second Version)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Two Steps

**Author's Note:**

> I was dissatisfied with how the story was playing out last time, so with some help from my friend Nimademe (who named this story) I re-imagined the story into something a bit more character motivated, and frankly a lot better.
> 
> Thanks for reading!

"What? You're asking for temporary leave?"

 

"Yes, Mistress," said Sakuya, bowing deeply to the young vampiress to whom she pledged her allegiance. "I realize this has come at such short notice, but I feel that I need to-"

 

"Go back to the Outside World, non?" interrupted Remilia Scarlet, not looking back to her maid as she casually sipped her tea. Her younger sister, Flandre, looked up from her crude drawings at Sakuya with her wide ruby eyes from across the table. This was news to her, at least.

 

Sakuya blinked. "How did you know?"

 

"Please, Sakuya, it's been written all over your face all week," Remilia stated in a matter-of-fact way. "You have the eyes of someone being pulled by fate. As one who has fate wrapped around her little finger, I can spot it a mile away. Just call it the duty of a good mistress." A gasp came from across the table.

 

"Wow, big sis! You're really good at lying!" said Flandre earnestly. "So that's what you were laughing about when you read Sakuya's diary!"

 

Sakuya turned bright red in embarrassment. "M-Mistress, please!"

 

Remilia refused to meet Sakuya's gaze. "H-how dare you, Flan! I was not 'laughing' like some buffoon, it was a civilized, lightly amused chuckle befitting a lady like myself!"

  
"I-in any case, I do not need to peer through my servants' diaries to know what they are feeling at any given time! Sakuya!" she barked at her maid, who stood at attention. "You wish to visit the Outside World, do you not? Very well, do as you like! Go speak with Pache and have her open passage," Remilia said, banging her knife against the table decisively, hard enough to make Flandre mess up a stroke with her marker.

 

"Ahh! _Regardec ce tu m'a fait faire, idiot!_ " Flandre shouted, holding up her ruined drawing of their gate guard, Meiling.

 

" _Idiot?! Comment osez-vous!_ " yelled back Remilia, who stood up from her chair to confront her sister. Sakuya felt it best to not get in their way, and bowed quickly before leaving the room, in time to hear the situation explode into magic violence as she closed the door. She made her way to Patchouli's library, thinking about how much she'd have to clean upon her return to the mansion.

 

* * *

 

Sakuya knocked lightly on the great, massive doors to Patchouli's library. This mansion was as much her home as it was her mistress's, but the library was the domain of Master Knowledge, and the utmost amount of respect was to be shown to her as a result. The pause between Sakuya's knocks and the doors opening was palpable, as if the library was considering her worthiness to enter. In truth, however, it was mostly due to the somewhat slow reaction time of Koakuma, who was not known for her reflexes, despite her best efforts. The devil smiled sheepishly at Sakuya as she opened the doors.

 

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Miss Sakuya, I was on the other side of the library when you came. You don't need to knock, you know! Master Knowledge would never refuse your arrival," Koakuma said, busily dusting off her long skirt and shoving the papers in her arms back in place.

 

"Well, this is not my normal visit," said Sakuya. "I have come for Master Knowledge to seek her aid, you see. It does not hurt to be extra mindful in such case."

 

"Oh, my. Well please, follow me! She's just finishing up an experiment of hers. Something about indirectly manipulating light. It should be quite a treat to see, I think!" said Koakuma, beaming with pride as an assistant. With that, she flew ahead of Sakuya, beckoning her along. The maid had no trouble keeping up even in the legendary mess of Patchouli's library. Sakuya offered to clean for her many times, but Patchouli would never have any of it, insisting that in this chaos was a meticulously controlled environment, vulnerable to any change she was not aware of. The pair made their way through the library's vast expanses, a seemingly never-ending labyrinth of books encompassing everything around them.

  
As they came upon Patchouli's testing area, they were treated to an incomprehensible sight. In the large cylindrical area, Patchouli was suspended high in the air, reading from a large tome before her. Below her was a massive globe of water, shifting and swirling, disintegrating and reforming endlessly on itself. As Patchouli controlled this great sphere, lights seem to orbit around it, and where their luminescence touched the shifting mass of water many rainbows appeared at different intensities, their shape manipulated by the unusual situation from which they were born, a multicolored chaotic torrent of dancing lights. The scene continued for a minute before Patchouli seemed to be done, as she called the water and lights back into her book with a great cascading sound. Patchouli gently fell back into her chair, her descent as slow and light as a feather's. After a moment, she took notice of the pair who had been watching this grand display.

 

"Ah, it's you two," said Patchouli Knowledge, with as much enthusiasm as Sakuya had come to expect. When you work with someone long enough, you learn to pick up on subtlety. Her tone carried a sense of weariness to it, indicating the success of her endeavors. Whatever she had been experimenting, it had clearly been going on for a while, and she had made little progress with it.

  
"What brings you to the library, Sakuya? Is it noon already?" Patchouli asked genuinely. She checked her pocket watch just to make sure.

 

"No, I'm not here for lunch, Master Knowledge. And besides, that was six hours ago," said Sakuya.

 

Patchouli blinked. "Ah, yes. Right. It was duck, wasn't it? Or was it pheasant? Bah, who cares. Anyhow, what brings you to my humble dwellings?" Patchouli rubbed her eyes, and when that didn't seem to accomplish anything she wiped her spectacles with a small cloth instead. She didn't seem satisfied by that, either.

 

"Well, I have a favor to ask of you, Master Knowledge. I would like to gain passage to the Outside World," said Sakuya.

 

"Ah, satisfying one of Remi's requests, are we?" replied Patchouli wryly. "You might find the usual channels are a touch out of place, today."

 

"No, actually. I'm here for my own purposes," said Sakuya. "I feel it is important for me to get to the Outside World as soon as possible."

 

Patchouli chuckled lightly. "Huh. It's rare I field a request from you that doesn't have something to do with Remi. One moment, please."

  
Patchouli snapped her fingers. In a moment Koakuma brought forth a large scroll with ornate handles and handed it to Patchouli. She opened it and peered at it for a moment, humming to herself thoughtfully. As she looked at it, her expression changed to one being greatly troubled.

  
"My god... I'm afraid it's worse than I thought, Sakuya," said Patchouli, the worry making itself plain on her face. "I believed that the position of the planets and stars was out of alignment, and it would be difficult to open a hole wherever we chose, but this..."  
Patchouli turned the scroll to Sakuya, and saw the images on the magic scroll were wildly changing in ways they hadn't before. The planets were rotating around the sun at incredible speeds, and the universe itself seemed to be shifting. Sakuya's stomach seemed to twist in on itself. Whatever was happening, this feeling pulling her to the Outside World was growing stronger looking at it. A word appeared in her mind: Gravity.

 

"W-what's happening?" said Sakuya, unable to hide her unease. "Is something wrong with your scroll?"

 

Patchouli shook her head. "I've calibrated this thing over and over again. No, whatever's going on... my celestial scroll is only showing the truth. I don't know what's going on, but in good conscience, I can't open passage to you now. I will need more information to-"

 

"NO!" shouted Sakuya, without meaning to. She covered her mouth, surprised by her own rudeness. Patchouli was surprised too, but her face hardened into a tough visage of concern.

 

"Don't be ridiculous, Sakuya!" Patchouli said, standing up from her chair with a mighty slam from her cane as it struck the ground. "If I opened up passage now, who knows what might happen to you! You might get flung out into the depths of space, never touching the earth for a second! Do you even know what's happening, here? Whatever you need to go to the Outside World for will have to wait!"

 

"It can't wait!" Sakuya said firmly. "I... I have a feeling, that whatever is pulling me to the Outside World is related to this! I have to be there now more than ever!"

 

Sakuya was never so forceful in her beliefs. Patchouli was taken aback by this, but the conviction in Sakuya's words swayed her. Rational thought had its place in Gensokyo, but such a strong intuition always took priority. Patchouli sighed.

 

"...Very well, Sakuya. I don't think you're gonna be listening to reason any time soon, so... I have one way. It's a damn fool thing to do, but pleasing damn fool requests seems to be all but my job description, anyway," said Patchouli, grumbling to herself. She rapped her cane on the floor once more, calling forth several books from the shelves around her, suspending themselves in the air with her magic. She seemed to be reading from all of them at once.

  
"It'll be tricky, and it will require exact timing on both our parts. I'm going to be flinging you to Earth within the solar system's warped gravitational pull. If we miss our window, you might end up being sent to the depths of space, or being trapped in the Earth's outer atmosphere," said Patchouli. "The risk is enormous. Are you still prepared to take it?"

 

Sakuya nodded decisively. "I am."

 

"Fine. You'll need to follow my instructions to the letter, then. First, I'll need you to set that watch of yours to count down fourteen days, six hours, forty-seven minutes and twelve seconds. The strange effects in the universe seem to be attributed to the rapid acceleration of time itself, so that countdown will go by like that," Patchouli continued, snapping her fingers for emphasis. "By my calculations, that should be the right time for you to halt the flow of time. With your position and the universe being stopped, your continued trajectory will allow you to enter the Earth from space."

 

Sakuya did as she was told, but she had a question nonetheless. "Why can't I teleport directly to Earth, like we normally do?"

 

"Because normally the universe isn't spinning itself out of control," grumbled Patchouli. "Besides, we never teleported directly to Earth. That 'waiting room' we usually make use of is a pocket dimension inside of a tortoise. Its position close to Earth provides a fixed point for us to enter the Outside World normally from. Due to this temporal anomaly of ours, it's nearly impossible to reach it at the moment, so launching you to Earth from space is actually the easier option in this scenario. We simply have to lead our shot. Koakuma!"

 

Koakuma stood at attention, previously transfixed by her master's explanations. "Y-yes, Master Knowledge!" Patchouli tossed the celestial scroll to her assistant.

 

"Keep watch of this scroll. I've marked points for the planets in the solar system to be in based on their speed and revolutions. When they've reached them, tell us immediately. If you have time to think about it before you say it, we'll be too late. Say it the moment it happens. Can you handle that? Sakuya's safety depends on you," Patchouli said firmly.

 

Koakuma gulped, the pressure weighing immensely on her. "Y-yes! I won't let you down!" She opened the scroll, gazing at it intensely.

 

Patchouli nodded. "I'll need a moment to set up the portal. When the time to go in comes, you'll need to leap in in an instant. Be ready, Sakuya." Patchouli took a deep breath from her inhaler, and began to speak incantations aloud from her books. Magic circles appeared around her, information displayed on them that only she understood. Celestial bodies came into view in an ethereal magic form as the air charged itself with magic. Patchouli's power was certainly a sight to behold, Sakuya thought to herself. The atmosphere was nearly disrupted by a sudden bursting open of the doors to the library. Sakuya looked back, to see her two mistresses and Meiling running into the room.

 

"Sakuya!" Remilia cried, flying over to her maid. "Don't think you can leave without saying goodbye to us!"

 

"Is it true you're gonna be flung into the stars? That's amazing, Sakuya!" cheered Flandre, who was riding piggyback on Meiling.

 

Meiling gave a knowing wink. "Come back soon, alright? It'll be awfully lonely without you here."

 

Sakuya's heart had been filled with urgency, trepidation and fear, but seeing the people who she thought of as her family brought a sense of peace to her once more. She smiled earnestly, and pulled them all in for a group hug.  
"Don't worry, I'll be back soon," Sakuya said. "I promise."

 

"Of course you will be," Remilia said proudly. "No maid of mine is going to die unceremoniously in the Outside World! Be sure to bring me back a nice souvenir, alright?"

 

"Of course, Mistress. For you and Flandre both," she said, getting somewhat misty-eyed. The portal opened behind Sakuya, but she kept looking back at her loved ones.

 

"Look alive, Sakuya. It's not goodbye, after all," said Patchouli, her tone compassionate. She tossed over a small silver bell, the one she used to ask for Sakuya's help daily.

"Just ring that bell whenever you're done with whatever you need to do, and we'll bring you back. Happy trails, Sakuya. Bring me back something too, will you?"

Sakuya nodded, and faced the portal. Koakuma's eyes remained firmly planted on the magic parchment before her, but she gave Sakuya a thumbs up with a free hand.

 

"Almost there!" Koakuma shouted. Sakuya assumed a ready position to leap in.

  
"Almost..." The tension was palpable. Sakuya could have sworn she had stopped time, the air was so still. Everyone's eyes were on her, waiting for the explosive moment on action.

  
"GO GO GO!" Koakuma shouted with great urgency. Before she could finish, Sakuya had already leapt into the portal. In a nearly imperceivable moment before she disappeared, Sakuya waved back one last time before the doorway to the infinite abyss closed in an instant. Sakuya was gone, into the unknown once more.

 

* * *

 

Sakuya drifted through the great field of stars at a speed she wasn't entirely aware of. It was difficult to get a sense of how quickly she was moving in space, much less one being warped by the accelerated advance of time itself. She had been protected by Patchouli's magic, but in the Outside World, there was no telling just how long that would last. She had learned some things about space from Patchouli, namely that there was no air to breathe in it. If this magic field around her had dissolved, it might not matter whether she landed on earth or not. She checked her watch, and true to patchouli's word, the numbers were rapidly declining. Time was affecting the speed of the watch and everything around her in ways she couldn't fathom.

  
Sakuya resisted the urge to stop time now, to slow everything down and give her room to think. But to do so would drastically upset her plans, and possibly kill her. She looked at the watch, before seeing a great blue visage reflected on its glass surface. The Earth had suddenly appeared next to her, vast as it appeared to be, and yet so small compared to everything else. The watch was almost done counting down. Fourteen days had passed in the blink of an eye.But before she could stop time, the unfathomable happened: time stopped all on its own. Everything, Sakuya included, was at a standstill. What on Earth was happening?

 

* * *

 

"NOW! STOP TIME-"

  
Annasui's command was silenced as quickly as it was bellowed. Both from time stopping, and the spectral hand plunging through his heart. Jotaro couldn't believe his eyes. Pucci was fast, but he had no time to waste. He grabbed the Stand's arm in the stopped time.

 

"I've got him! Take this, Father Pucci-" Jotaro said, interrupted by the realization that he was not grabbing the arm of Made in Heaven, but Stone Free, his daughter's Stand.

  
"What?! He used Jolyne's stand to..."

  
Jotaro was stunned. Pucci had manipulated Jolyne's stand into punching a hole in Annasui's chest. He was just a "step" too late. There were only four seconds left in the stopped time. If he couldn't defeat Pucci then and there, it would be too late. He would hide in the accelerated time once more, and then there would be no defeating him. Three more seconds while Jotaro moved his way through the mess of bodies towards Pucci. Two more seconds.

  
And then Jotaro saw it. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the result of Pucci's desperate struggle. A single knife, ready to kill Jolyne. An ultimatum. Kill Pucci and save the world, but lose his daughter; or save Jolyne, but have less time to kill Pucci. Jotaro had no time to think. His body reacted on instinct, and as he moved his way towards Pucci, he took one "step" to knock Jolyne's body out of the knife's path. One second left. She would be safe. But Pucci was so close! He readied a fist, and sent it flying towards Pucci's face. Jotaro pleaded silently to God or anyone else that was listening, hoping against hope that this punch would be enough. Time was already stopped, but it felt like that one second slowed an eternity.  
All he needed was one second.

 

* * *

 

Sakuya was shocked and terrified by this turn of events. For a few seconds, she couldn't move in the stopped time. And then suddenly, her trajectory continued. Sakuya moved in stopped time, before she was ready to do so. The watch's hands spun with increased speed, making Sakuya's heart beat with the intensity. Time was free for but one second when Sakuya stopped it one more time. With fear of oblivion sending her into instinct, Sakuya shouted the name of her ability.

 

" **THE WORLD!** "

 

* * *

 

"Two 'steps'," said Father Pucci. "You were late by two-"

  
He didn't have time to finish his statement, because time was stopped once more. Jotaro didn't have time to think about it. He had no time to ask how time had stopped, or who could have stopped it. His head was clouded by urgency, the need to stop this man once and for all. Jotaro didn't think, he just let his fists be guided to their target. Pucci was behind him, and in that desperate instant, Jotaro sent his strongest, most fearful punch directly into Pucci's head. One punch, and then another, and another, until a whirling torrent of punches was unleashed from Star Platinum into the twisted priest. Jotaro and his Stand shouted in tandem, punching Pucci's body into oblivion with every painful emotion Jotaro had unleashed. He felt every crunch of bone, every tear of flesh, every globule of blood being splashed from Pucci's body. He felt the life leave Pucci's body, the death of this man who had caused so much pain to the world and those precious to him.

  
Before he knew it, time had resumed. Jotaro splashed into the water, its surface tension no longer supporting his weight in the stillness. Pucci was knocked high into the air, before he crashed into the sea in a bloodied mess. He was already dead. There would be no last words, no desperate actions. There would be no going to Heaven. Jotaro's companions splashed in the water behind him, and he could swear he heard them screaming about Annasui, and asking where Father Pucci was. Jotaro could barely hear them. The adrenaline and energy in his body was fading, and all he wanted was to rest. Jotaro felt his eyelids weigh heavily, barely having the strength to keep them open. As he floated on his back, he looked up, and saw one single pinprick of light streak across the evening sky.

 

"A shooting star, huh?" he coughed. "I guess wishes really do come true."

 

Jotaro closed his eyes as the sound of his companions faded away deeply into his unconsciousness. Floating in the sea in the wake of a desperate struggle, the last thing Jotaro felt was a deep sense of relief.

 

The Earth was safe, truly and finally.


	2. Sakuya's WORLD

**KA-THOOM.**

  
The sound of a great impact reverberated through the ground, reverberating as if it had been struck by heaven itself. The agent nearly lost his footing entirely as he felt the full vibrations of the shockwave. He scrambled to catch his bags just in time before he dropped them, leaving him precariously balanced amidst the shaking, and the surprise of his SUV's burglar alarm hadn't helped. When everything seemed to have calmed down, he was able to turn it off and stand naturally once more.

"Jesus!" he shouted, looking around in a panic. "First all that crazy shit happens, and now a goddamn explosion?! What the fuck is going on?!" The agent stood in place with his feet planted firmly on the ground, stopping and listening to make sure the church he was guarding wasn't going to collapse. Whether it was going to fall or not, a plume of smoke was rising out of the roof, and that wasn't a good sign. He continued towards the church with caution.

"I'm getting too old for this kind of excitement," the agent grumbled to himself. "Who the hell would bomb Florida, much less this old church? This day just keeps getting crazier and crazier." The agent continued his way up the stairs, before stopping in sudden realization.

"Wait," he said. "Who WOULD bomb this old church? If all that stuff the foundation said was true, maybe it's related to that pastor business they briefed us about. So... a Stand user?"

The agent took a long pause to think.

"I should get out of here."

The agent quickly descended down the path again, before stopping once more.

"...But if I leave, the old broad's gonna be pissed. Then she'll find me and drag me back to the foundation and say I tried to be insubordinate, and then... pay cut. Or worse." He groaned at the thought of it. "But I don't wanna die, either!"

He paused once more to think.

"Well, it was nice knowing her," he said as he started to walk away.

  
"HOL HORSE!" came a voice from the chapel, screaming as loudly as possible. "GET YOUR ASS IN HERE, YOU COWARD!"

Ah, there it was. The wrath of Hurricane Mariah. He sighed sadly, and walked up the stone steps with the feeling that he would have been better off fighting an enemy Stand user.

  
Hol Horse pushed open the door at the top of the small set of stairs, and was immediately greeted by a pair of gloved hands quickly dragging him inside. Before he knew it, he found himself facing his partner, Agent Mariah, once more. In her lovely way, she made it clear to him that she wasn't happy, her face contorted into an almost comical visage of rage.

  
"You thought you were gonna just run away and leave me alone, huh?! Well, you've got another thing coming, you shitty coward!" she hissed, spittle flying into Hol Horse's face. "If I gotta face an enemy, then so do you!"

"I-I wasn't gonna run away! It's a tactical retreat! I would have flanked on the other side, probably..." he said, uncertainly muttering his last addendum.

"PROBABLY?!" Mariah shouted. "WE HAVE A JOB TO DO, HOL HORSE! WE'RE SUPPOSED TO GUARD THIS PLACE IN CASE SOME LACKEY OF THAT PRIEST'S COMES BY! FACE YOUR JOB LIKE A MAN!"

"W-well yeah, but! Nobody's come here in years! The SPW combed the heck outta this place already, why would anyone come by now?!" Hol Horse said. "I figured it was an easy paycheck so I took this job, you know?"

Mariah calmed down enough for her face to return to normal. "Yeah, well, it seems like we're gonna have to earn our pay this time. That explosion came from the other room. Sounds like something tore a hole in the roof."

"Jeez, why'd you have to scream like that? If it's an enemy Stand user, they'll probably find us!" Hol Horse said, rubbing his hand down his face. "Neither of us is suited for one-on-one combat!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I thought the man with the gun that shoots an endless supply of magic bullets could handle himself," replied Mariah, rolling her eyes. "Just take care of it, would you?"

"Fine, I'm going, I'm going," grumbled Hol Horse. He got up and left, materializing Emperor in his right hand on the way. He turned around gave Mariah a thumbs-up, vainly hoping for a confidence boost until she stuck her middle finger up at him instead. Sighing sadly, Hol Horse turned toward the exit of the small lobby, quieting his footsteps as much as possible. At the very least, he was good at stealth, he supposed. Maybe he could get the drop on the enemy, if he was lucky.

  
Hol Horse slowly pushed the large wooden doors open into the nave of the church, carefully sticking Emperor out, prepared to face the enemy. Though every instinct was telling him to turn around and not engage a dangerous situation directly, Mariah's wrath was equally scary to him. Seeing as there was no immediate response to his probing the area, he slowly allowed himself a glimpse into the grand room. Before him was the nave of the church, and as Mariah had suspected, a hole had been blasted through the roof, allowing the light of the moon to shine into the church, though very little could be seen behind the great cloud of dust currently swirling around the altar. Behind him, Hol Horse heard Mariah slink a certain distance away. She must have hidden an outlet in the area as a trap. Having her Stand, Bastet, as support gave him some confidence, but it meant there was definitely no turning back, either.

As the dust began to dissipate in the night air, Hol Horse made out a shape at the center of the impact, directly in the middle of the flattened altar. As he drew closer, It looked like a human body. But more importantly, the body of a woman, no... a french maid? Hol Horse could barely resist. Throwing caution to the wind, the aging cowboy immediately ran to the side of the unconscious maiden to look at her up close, and she hadn't reacted to his presence. He picked up her wrist to check her pulse, savoring the feeling of her slender arms and hands.

"Still alive, huh..." he observed. Satisfied with this, his attention turned back to her body. He gave a low whistle. "Damn, you're a real looker, missy. And wow, not a scratch on ya, either! It must be some kinda miracle. Just where did you come from, little lady?" The maid had silvery hair that sparkled in the lunar light, framing a beautiful, almost otherworldly face. Though Hol Horse's question was rhetorical, a beauty like this could only have descended from Heaven itself, he figured. He allowed himself a grin; that would make an excellent line for whenever she came to.

His mind snapped back from his daydreams and he looked back, making sure Mariah was nowhere in sight. "W-well, I should look for an ID, I think. Y-yeah! That's what any smart SPW agent would do, after all." Hol Horse lightly patted down the woman's body. Not in a sketchy, creepy way, he told himself; he was a gentleman, after all. He put his hand in her apron pocket, and came across a large metallic object. It was a pocket watch, and one of a very strange design. It had all sorts of advanced-looking moving bits on it that Hol Horse couldn't figure out the use of. He never was very good with technology. He put it back in her pocket and continued his absent-minded patdown. Still, though, his eyes were drawn to her sleeping face. What a lucky day for him, he thought.

"Whoever your master is, he's probably a real scumbag," Hol Horse said, to a maid who couldn't hear him. "Nobody these days would hire a french maid this beautiful if he wasn't after her body. Not like me, I'd treat you right. You can bet on that." Hol Horse would have felt the shape of the kitchen knives in her dress if he hadn't distracted himself with fantasies of this girl working for a cruel, hideously ugly master he envisioned. He felt disgusted to think that such a man could exist. If only he were 30 years younger, he thought to himself. Some girls enjoyed the "silver fox" look, and he cultivated it as much as he could, but it was few and far between, and even these slim pickings wouldn't last forever. He may have aged over the years, but his heart still yearned for younger women. There was even a time he waited hand and foot on Mariah as her field partner, before time caught up with her looks. But this girl, there was something about her that Hol Horse felt was familiar. Some ethereal quality that escaped to the forgotten parts of his memory. It almost scared him, had he not been so taken by her charms.

His eyes rested on her lips, soft and coated with a light blue lipstick that glistened in the night. Hol Horse felt his heart pounding in his chest, and gulped. It was just like the stories, he thought to himself. Sleeping Beauty, awoken by the kiss of her true love, a prince on a white horse. Or was that Snow White? It didn't matter, either way. Maybe he could be that prince. Before Hol Horse knew it, he had moved his face closer to hers. Perhaps fate had brought her to his side. Perhaps it was destined that they meet, on this cold night in the Deep South. Hol Horse closed his eyes and puckered his lips, expecting them to find their mark, and for true love to blossom for this lonely old soul.

  
"YOU MAKE ME SICK, HOL HORSE!"

Before Hol Horse could react, a large briefcase came down on his head, and for a second he swore he saw stars. Falling back on the floor, he came face to face with Mariah, her face once more twisted in rage.

"You creepy old piece of shit! Just what the hell do you think you're doing?!"

  
"I-I can explain! She uh... she needed CPR! Yeah!" Hol Horse explained desperately. Mariah stomped on his chest with her high heeled boots in response.

"You idiot! Did you think I'd fall for that?! Do you have any sense left in that head of yours?" she yelled. "If she's alive, then hurry up and detain her! She's probably a Stand user!"

"Fine, fine!" Hol Horse coughed, rubbing his chest sorely. "Jeez, I'm going!"

Hol Horse did as Mariah asked, gingerly placing handcuffs on the unconscious woman. He muttered apologies to her, both for the handcuffs and trying to kiss her, swearing up and down that he was a better gentleman than that. It was just instinct, that was all. After another minute of scolding from Mariah, they both noticed the silver-haired woman stirring back into consciousness. Mariah backed up behind Hol Horse, nudging him with her elbow until he summoned Emperor once more and pointed it at the perpetrator. The girl's eyelids fluttered for a second, before she sat up in shock. As she attempted to get up, she found that her hands were handcuffed behind her back as well, only making her level of panic worse. Her expression showed that she was clearly very confused, before they rested on Hol Horse and Mariah. The intensity of her gaze made Hol Horse falter for a second, and a feeling of dread that felt very familiar planted itself firmly in the pit of his stomach.

  
"H-hey, little lady! We don't mean you no harm, now," Hol Horse stammered. " My name's Agent Holland Oates, but most folks call me Hol Horse. This here's my partner, Mariah. We just wanna ask you some questions real peaceful-like, alright? I got the key to your cuffs right here, so don't worry none, okay?" Hol Horse patted his pocket gingerly to confirm his statement.

"Oh, for crying out loud..." Mariah groaned. "Listen up! You're tresspassing on a Speedwagon Foundation investigation site! Remain calm, and we won't use lethal force. You're outnumbered, so don't try anything funny!" She remained at Hol Horse's back, intending to use him as a shield if necessary. The girl stood up, her intense gaze remaining fixed on Hol Horse and Mariah.

"Please, remain calm, little lady," said Hol Horse. "It's clear you're pretty shocked, but we ain't gonna hurt you none, so long as you don't start anything, okay? Do you speak English? Do you understand?"

Before Hol Horse could get his answer, time had stopped.

 

* * *

 

Sakuya was confused and had many questions, but right now, she was faced with the threat of this strange man, Hol Horse, pointing a gun at her, and this Mariah behind him, who, although she carried no clear weapons, Sakuya felt a sense of "danger" from all the same. With time stopped at her will, Sakuya began by orienting her hands in front of her body, and walked over to Hol Horse. Remembering the man's naive show of faith, she went for the key that he held. As she reached her hand into his jacket pocket, she felt a powerful electric shock that disoriented her senses for a second. Her fingers tingled with pain, but more importantly, the disorientation had sent time running once more. She looked up, and the older man looked back down at her in total surprise. Sakuya reflexively backstepped several paces away, and heard the sound of laughter coming from behind Hol Horse. The woman stepped out to the side, smiling with immense pride and self-assuredness.

"So, you really are a Stand user, aren't you? I didn't even hear you coming near," said Mariah. "But I'd guess you're looking for these, right?" Mariah held out a ring of keys.

"I couldn't be sure you would go for the keys yourself or not, so I thought I would booby trap this idiot's pocket, just to be safe. That being the case..." She fastened the keyring to a small chain on her pencil skirt.

"You won't be getting these any time soon. Now, surrender, or I'll have to show you the true power of my Stand, Bastet!"

"Whatever a 'Stand' is, you have no chance of defeating me," said Sakuya, speaking for the first time. "Give me those keys, before I kill you myself. I don't mind taking the lives of two bothersome humans."

"Oh, she can understand us," Mariah said, grinning. "That's good. I might have felt bad about beating a girl who had no idea what was happening. TAKE THIS!" At Mariah's shout, she threw her arms forward, casting out two long, snaking ropes with metal weights flying from her sleeves and towards Sakuya. Such an attack was so slow that Sakuya paid it barely any mind. She merely stepped out of its path, believing that would be that. But in just a moment, when Sakuya stepped aside, the cords suddenly moved out of their path and towards Sakuya; by the time she realized it, they had struck her and coiled tightly around her arms.

"W-what?!" Sakuya gasped as she felt herself being drawn closer to this strange woman. She struggled against them with all her might, but their grip didn't lessen in the slightest, as if they were stuck to her body.

Mariah flicked her wrists, and out from her sleeves and into her hands came two metal rods that she gripped tightly. Flicking a switch on them, they came alive with an electric charge, buzzing and sparking menacingly.  
"Say good night, little girl!" Mariah cackled sadistically as she let go of the rods, and they came flying directly for Sakuya.

"The World!" Sakuya hissed instinctively, stopping time just before the batons reached her body. The flow of the universe stopped once more, taking the rods' momentum with it and stopping the world dead in its tracks. Though she had plenty of time to act at her own pace, she wasted none of it with indecisive actions. In a swift motion Sakuya took one of her knives and cut the ropes tying her to Mariah, and in another she grabbed the electric rods and pushed them into the stomachs of her two assailants. While she normally would have finished them off then and there, this threat and this world were unfamiliar to her and she wanted nothing more than to just get away from them for the time being. She rushed away from the pair, putting as much distance between her and them as she could when the unexpected happened: Time resumed once more, without her command.

In what seemed an instant Mariah's laughing ceased as she and Hol Horse took the full blow of the stun batons. Their bodies spasmed in response to this charge of energy, and after a moment of screaming pain, they collapsed into a twitching mess on the ground. Sakuya reminded herself not to stand around in shock and continued moving. Why had time resumed? Whenever Sakuya used The World before, its power was omnipotent, so why now had it only lasted what felt like mere seconds? Questions like these surged through Sakuya's mind as she made her way out of the chapel through a nondescript back door, leaving her enemies on the ground behind her.

The two agents needed to recuperate. This sort of damage was enough to put a normal person out of commission, and while they were far from normal, they were also fairly old as well. Their bodies calmed down, and Hol Horse slowly picked himself and Mariah up off the ground.

"Mariah..." wheezed Hol Horse, coughing into his arm. "You felt it too, right?"

"Y-Yeah..." Mariah sputtered, her chest heaving. "I felt it. No doubt about it..."

"The World..." Hol Horse intoned. Their past had seemed to catch up with them once and for all. That power to stand above all of humanity, the ability to stop time, had shown up once again, over 20 years later. A chill ran up his spine. Suddenly that stare of hers seemed that much more familiar, and that much more terrifying.

  
"But how?" Mariah said, finally catching her breath. "DIO is the only one who could have that Stand, and he's long dead! Why does she have it?"

"Hell if I know!" Hol Horse said, suddenly standing up. "All I know is, I'm not sticking around to find the answers."

"What?! And just where do you think you're going?" demanded Mariah, her grip on Hol Horse's arm like an iron vice. "We have a job to do, here!"

"A job?!" scoffed Hol Horse. "And just how do you expect us to do that? How're we gonna take on a Stand that can control time itself? You should be saying, 'Great idea, Hol Horse! I think we should run, too!' Let's pack our bags, hop on a plane to who knows where and just get OUT of here while we're still alive!"

"Listen to me!" Mariah barked, poking her finger sharply at Hol Horse's chest. "It might not seem like it, but we've got the advantage here. Let's take stock for a second. She's in unfamiliar territory, we've been canvassing this place for a week, and she can't have gotten far. We know what her Stand does. No Stand is 100% invincible, or else DIO would have never lost in the first place. And lastly, she might know what I can do, but she doesn't know you."

"M-me?" Hol Horse stammered. "What can I do?"

"Calm down and think, Hol," Mariah said as she pulled out a cigarette and lit it. "You're an assassin. You've killed dozens of people who had no idea about your abilities, and they never had the chance to find out. Emperor is perfect for this situation. Stand or no Stand, what's the difference? If you kill her in an instant, it won't matter if she's got the World or not. YOU can do this, Hol Horse. You're the ONLY one who can do this."

"W-well, sure, but..."

"Think about it, Hol," said Mariah with a dangerous look in her eye. "A power like The World is really something, isn't it? I bet the Speedwagon Foundation would give you a nice reward for taking care of it all by yourself. And you know, I bet the rookies would be REALLY impressed."

"The... the rookies?" asked Hol Horse.

"Sure," cooed Mariah. "All those young, impressionable women, especially. Fresh out of the academy, why, they'd be BEGGING to become your proteges. After all, who wouldn't want to get close to the man who saved the world?"

"Yeah... YEAH!" Hol Horse cheered, a sudden wind of confidence blowing through him, before leaving him just as quickly. "But... there's no way I can do this alone... Emperor's pretty powerful, sure, but it works best in a team, you know? Even I can't do this all by myself."

"Of course, Hol Horse. That's why I'll be running interference for you. I'll keep her busy, all you need to do is just take one little shot."

"Easy as that?"

"Easy as that. One bullet is between you and fame and fortune. Now, I've got a plan..."

 

* * *

 

Sakuya was so perplexed. Why had The World failed her as it had? Could it have been an effect of the Outside World? Why had the earth been moving so rapidly out of control upon her entry, only to stop as soon as she came to? Who were these people? And most importantly, where on Earth was she? Sakuya pulled out her pocket watch and began pressing buttons on its complex interface. If she could simply speak to Patchouli, she may be able to get some answers.

"Master Knowledge, are you there? Please, respond if you can hear me!" she pleaded into the watch. "Master Knowledge, are you there?"

In response the watch seemed to come to life, clicking and whirring as its interface turned around and presented a silver mirror to her. After a moment of hopeful silence, Patchouli appeared on its surface. Her image was faint, but she was there.

"Patchouli here. I'm glad to see you made it, you had us worried. Did you have a safe landing, Sakuya? I assume my magic shielding found you well."

"Thank goodness," Sakuya said, breathing a sigh of relief. "I'm afraid it hasn't gone so well, exactly. If you can see, I've gotten myself in a bit of a bind." Sakuya held up her shackled hands in front of the mirror for emphasis. "Some strange humans found me and tried to take me with them."

"What?! Arrogant humans..." Patchouli growled. "I should have known something would happen. Are you safe now? Have you gotten rid of them?"

"I believe so... but listen, Master Knowledge," Sakuya said. "There's something awfully strange about Earth. One of those humans, a woman who called herself 'Mariah,' had some strange ability, and called it a 'Stand'. And... when I try to use my own power, I could only use it for what felt like seconds. Time resumed all on its own."

Patchouli's eyes went wide. "Are you quite sure? Are you certain you didn't disengage it yourself?"

Sakuya shook her head. "I'm quite certain, Master Knowledge. Just what is going on with the Outside World?"

"I wish I knew, Sakuya. Whatever the case, the situation sounds very dangerous. I'd like to get your exit started as soon as possible. It'll take some time."

"But can't you just bring me back with a simple teleportation spell?" Sakuya asked, instantly regretting the question as it left her mouth.

"'Simple,' she says!" shouted Patchouli, suddenly indignant. "Well, I'm glad it looks so easy to you, Sakuya, because planning such excursions as these is no simple feat to me! I have to spend quite some time aligning points on my star maps to channel all that magic energy, but you don't see a second of that! It's not exactly opening a hole in the wall and stepping through, Sakuya, it- (COUGH) (COUGH)" Patchouli erupted into a coughing fit, and was suddenly gasping for air. Sakuya instinctively reached into her pocket for the spare inhaler, before realizing it wouldn't help in this situation. All the same, Patchouli retrieved her own, and took a few deep breaths. The ensuing silence was particularly awkward.

"No, it's not quite that simple. Your insistence to leave at such a turbulent moment certainly didn't help matters, thank you very much."

"My humblest apologies, Master Knowledge," Sakuya said, bowing deeply. "I should have been more considerate of the magnitude of your duties."

"Hmph. Damn right you should have," Patchouli huffed. "Blasted fool, I warned you. Unfortunately, there's no telling when I'll have an exit portal ready for you, Sakuya. The solar system, not to mention the entire Universe, seems to have been thrown into a great amount of disarray. Whatever was happening seems to have stopped, but it may take days, even weeks."

"Weeks?! But I can't spend so long here! What on earth am I going to do?" pleaded Sakuya, whose mind was racing with thoughts of staying in the Outside World, never seeing her home again.

"Need I remind you whose idea it was to make this trip in the first place?" Patchouli said flatly. "You said you felt there was something you needed to do, correct? Do it, then. Whatever feeling brought you here will bring you to your purpose in this world, I'm sure. In the mean time, I'll be finding a way to bring you back."

"Very well, Master Knowledge. I'll be doing my best. I'll talk to you soo-" Sakuya stopped in the middle of her sentence as she heard something rapidly approaching from beyond the foliage. Before she had time to react, an olive-green vehicle burst out of the nearby bushes, its engine roaring as loud as anything Sakuya had ever heard, and it was heading straight for her. Sakuya viewed its approach in slow motion, her natural adrenaline surging through her body. She called upon the name of her ability once more, but as time halted in its tracks, something even more incredible happened before her eyes.

A grey figure appeared before Sakuya, tall and strong, its impressive musculature covered in armor the color of brushed steel. It turned to face Sakuya, the upper half of its face covered by a strange, triangular helmet with short, almost-glowing white hair pouring out just above the neck. It had no expression, and it said nothing, but Sakuya understood it implicitly. It said to her: "I'm going to punch this until it explodes."

In the blink of an eye, the strange figure leapt into action, its arms a flurry of movement so fast Sakuya couldn't keep track. The figure tore the vehicle apart with its fists, every punch sending pieces of it flying all around. Its power and speed were incredible, and before Sakuya knew, the vehicle was nearly obliterated. Watching this mighty figure, Sakuya recalled the word that the woman, Mariah, had used. "Stand". Something about it felt right to her.

"Are you... The World?" Sakuya asked, almost breathlessly. She had never seen it before, never been aware that it was even there. As long as Sakuya had been able to stop time, she was aware of its name, but not that it belonged to "something". Looking at this being, this Stand, gave Sakuya a feeling somewhat like looking into a mirror. Its presence represented something inside of her she had not quite considered before. Power. The might of a being who could bend time itself to its will.

Before she could continue being enraptured by this incredible being, she became immediately aware that whoever had attacked her with this vehicle was far from done. Announcing their presence, Sakuya heard a high, trilling laughter come from behind. Turning to face them, it was none other than Mariah, back as if nothing had happened to her last time.

"OHOHOHOHO! My, that was quite a display, little girl! You've got quite a Stand there," Mariah mocked. "The power to stop time is quite something, isn't it? I'm willing to bet you can stop it for five or six seconds."

Sakuya had been taken aback. How could she have known what The World's power was? It should have been impreceptible to humans, and yet somehow she knew, all the same. That number bothered Sakuya as well. She hadn't been used to keeping track of the seconds, but it didn't sound wrong. Mariah was either very perceptive, or she knew something about The World that Sakuya didn't.

"The look on your face says all I need to know, kid," Mariah said, taking a drag on her cigarette and blowing out a plume of smoke. "But it seems you don't fully understand my ability, or else you wouldn't have destroyed that Jeep like you did. Take another look around you."

Sakuya didn't respond, but she didn't need to look to get an idea what was happening. She felt the tap of a tiny piece of metal as it flung itself into her leg. Then another, and another. She was attracting the metal like a magnet! She couldn't help but look around her as larger pieces began moving toward her, some crawling and rolling along the ground, others practically leaping off to attach themselves to her. The World reflexively reacted to a large metal scrap attacking her, punching it far away from them. It wasn't safe for Sakuya to stay here. She barely leapt out of the way in time for another scrap to be deflected by The World, only for another to slam into her stomach, knocking the wind out of her entirely.

Sakuya hadn't felt pain quite like this before. She had experienced much in Gensokyo when fighting in spell card duels, but nothing quite so brutal as this had happened before. It was very rare that anyone came at her with killing intent like this back home. She could swear she heard the cracking of bones, though the amount of pain had made it difficult to tell any specific damage. She stood up, only to be pelted with more metal. The woman cackled behind her.

"Ohohoho! Oh, this is a sorry sight! To think that my partner was so scared of you. I almost feel sorry for this, but you're too dangerous for me to let you stay alive. Not to mention," Mariah said, pushing her sunglasses up on her face, "Lord DIO was so much more charming than you, anyway. Without him, The World has no meaning."

That name. How did she know that name? When Sakuya heard it, her blood felt as if it were ready to boil and explode. Why on earth did she know it? Sakuya intoned the name of her Stand once more, and with seemingly no effort it blew the seemingly endless metal pieces away from her body one by one with incredible speed. She walked forward towards Mariah, ready to blow her away, as well. But as she walked forward, a large chain lightly buried under the ground leapt out, and struck Sakuya's legs, wrapping around them as she went, and she couldn't help but lose her balance. She hit the ground with a thud, mere feet away from her enemy. Mariah clicked her tongue in annoyance.

"Cheeky kid. Enough playing around, then. HOL HORSE! FINISH THE JOB!"

 

* * *

 

Hol Horse had sat in the upper floor window, Emperor at the ready. He had watched Mariah and this young, beautiful maiden fight below, and Mariah was expertly controlling the battlefield. This girl must not have been very experienced, he thought. Mariah's Stand, Bastet, was no match for The World in normal circumstances, but there's no defense that can match against decades of experience. Beauty or no, he couldn't help but feel sorry for the girl. Her Stand was a sight to see, in any case. It was crazy strong, but precise and flowing in its movements. The maid may not have been an effective Stand user, but to say she had no skill in a fight would be doing a great disservice to her. She was losing, but she was calm, all the same. As he watched, a length of chain had snaked its way around her legs. Hol Horse nearly stood up from his seat when he heard the command.

"HOL HORSE! FINISH THE JOB!"

The pause of a few seconds seemed to last an eternity in Hol Horse's mind, and he knew just what he had to do.

"Aye-aye, sir."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whoops this took a long time!!! whoops!!!


End file.
